Sermon Leftovers

Yesterday at The Gathering, I talked about  "Following Jesus."  At the end of our time, I told you that deciding to follow Him is one of the most important decisions you can ever make. This email is a short follow-up from that message. Below are five practical things you can do every day to help you follow Jesus. Just as you have daily habits which sustain your physical life (breathing, eating, moving, etc.), these are spiritual habits which will sustain your relationship with Jesus. Please take a moment and consider whether or not these five simple activities might make a difference in your life this week (and beyond). FIVE DAILY HABITS TO HELP YOU FOLLOW JESUS Get Inspired Give Something Away Connect With Other Christians Make an Eternal impact Celebrate God's Gifts Get Inspired Spending a few minutes reading God's Word is the best possible way to start your day. Whether you take 10 minutes or a full hour, time in God's Word empowers you to kn

PHILIPPIANS 1:3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, Paul's time in Philippi wasn't exactly a vacation at the beach or a walk in the park. You can read all the details in Acts 16, but among other things, he had to deal with a heckler, he and his friends got beaten up, and he was even thrown in jail. Yet, in Philippians 1:3, Paul wrote that he was thankful every time he remembered the people who lived in Philippi. Was he thankful for all the bad times? (not that he shouldn't be as God helps us grown in difficult circumstances) Actually, verses 4-5 clue us in as to why he was grateful. PHILIPPIANS 1:4-5 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. Paul was grateful for the good times. He had warm memories of partnering with the Philippians to see the Gospel spread throughout their time. He was thankful for the support they had given as He proclaimed the truth.

I like t-shirts. I especially like shirts with logos of my favorite sports teams. I also have a problem getting rid of old t-shirts. Earlier this week, I put on a shirt that I calculated to be at least 10 years old. As a result of my inability to let go, my shirt drawer is overflowing with Spartan, Tiger, Red Wing, Lions, Liverpool, Warrior, Trojan, and Bruin shirts. Let me be clear. My drawer is not overflowing because of any one shirt. It is overflowing because I have SO MANY shirts. Ephesians 5:20 says, "giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" The keywords here are "everything" and "always". Colossians 2:7 is a parallel passage. Here Paul is encouraging a group of Christians to live consistently with their roots in Jesus' example and teaching. This is accomplished, according to Paul, by "overflowing with thankfulness." Saying, "thank you" every so often is nice, but

Gratitude is a powerful tool for fighting anxiety, fear, and selfishness. It also promotes contentment, generosity, peace, and trust. I am always looking for new methods to develop more gratitude in my life. Here is an idea I have to use the 10 commandments as a jumping-off point for gratitude. Consider praying through these commands and using each one to express thanksgiving to God. 1. Have no other gods before Me. Thank you for being all-powerful, all-present, always in control, and still caring about me. 2. Make no false idols. Thank you for being everything I need so that I never need to look elsewhere for provision. 3. Do not take the name of the LORD in vain. Thank you for the privilege of calling on your name through prayer. Thank you for hearing my prayers. 4. Remember the Sabbath. Thank you for all of creation and for building healthy rhythms into creation as an example for how to live my life. 5. Honor your father and mother. Thank you for my family and

And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. (LUKE 1:46-49) 13 THOUGHTS ON GRATITUDE 1. Gratitude is the result of who you are, not what happens to you. 2. Gratitude is an internal commitment to not be controlled by external circumstances. 3. What happens TO me can never change what has been done FOR me. 4. Gratitude focuses on God's provision instead of my problems. 5. We all have problems, and it is good to tell God about our problems, but they should never be our primary focus. 6. God's provisions far outnumber your problems. 7. Gratitude grows from past deliverance not present darkness. 8. Mercy is only needed by those who have made mistakes. 9. Mercy is something we don't always see, even though it is there. We don&#

This may or may not be helpful. For those who are interested, here are five things we've done to prepare our church to restart. These aren't inspired and they may or may not work. We'll know soon! 1) We started using the word "restart" very early. The week after Easter, "restart" became an important element of our leaders' shared vocabulary. We wanted to hit the ground running when the time came. 2) We talked about "change" and "growth" as critical pieces of our restart. From the very beginning, we discussed this "stay-at-home" time as a sort of sabbath. We asked people to spend time considering three questions: - What have you learned about what is really important in life? - What would you like to change about your life's rhythm when you restart? - How are you going to do that? 3) Once we set a target date, we repeatedly used four words to communicate the important details of the plan: - MAY 31 - RE